Labour wins Feltham & Heston: 'A wake up call to Cameron'

LABOUR candidate Seema Malhotra has won the Feltham and Heston by-election with 54 per cent of the vote.

Mrs Malhotra, who grew up in the constituency, received 12,639 votes out the 35,152 cast, after a day of polling that saw a disappointing turnout of just 28.83 per cent - the lowest figure for a by-election in 11 years.

She said: "This result is a great victory for the people of Feltham and Heston, a victory for Labour which shows the progress we are making under Ed Miliband's leadership, a vote of confidence for the way Labour is changing, listening harder, winning back the trust of the people we seek to serve.

"But this is also a wake up call to David Cameron. This result shows how the Tory led government is totally out of touch with families, with businesses, with young people and out of touch with our pensioners.

"This is my home town, the place I grew up, where I went to school and where I was married - right here in Hounslow Civic Centre."

Mrs Malhotra also paid tribute to Labour MP Alan Keen, who held the seat from 1992 until his death last month. She said: "This was an election that none of us wanted. Alan Keen was one of the first MPs I ever met and the most emotional part of this campaign has been hearing the many personal stories from people he helped over the last 20 years.

"Alan is a great loss to our community and it will be a priviledge to follow his work."

Conservative candidate Mark Bowen, who was standing for the seat for the third time, finished second with 28 per cent of the vote, while the Lib Dem's finished in third place, narrowly beating UKIP.

Mr Bowen echoed Mrs Malhotra's praise of Mr Keen saying: "These are the saddest circumstances possible to fight a by-election. I fought Alan Keen twice and we disagreed on many political issues, but he was always courteous and friendly to me. He was a very decent man and I know that he will be missed."

Mr Bowen also praised his Labour counterpart saying: "Unlike comments made by one of the other candidates, I never considered her to be a career politician. I never doubted that she cared about this borough as much as I do."